When a wire coil is wound onto a bobbin, the wire has to be tied to terminal pins provided on the bobbin at the start and end of the winding operation. In conventional winding machines which performed this winding operation automatically, a nozzle for supplying wire was for example moved around a terminal pin on a bobbin supported in a fixed position so as to secure the wire to the pin.
As the nozzle is generally lighter than the bobbin, considering the winding operation alone, it is more logical to have the nozzle move around the bobbin supported in a fixed position than have the bobbin move around a fixed nozzle.
However, considering operations after winding such as soldering, taping, pin cutting, testing, and loading and unloading of the bobbin to a spindle, it is more advantageous from the viewpoint of automation of coil manufacture to fix each operating unit and have the bobbin move between them.
In Tokkai Hei 2-18915 published by the Japanese Patent Office, for example, a coil winder is proposed wherein the nozzle supplying the wire is fixed, and the bobbin is moved around it in three dimensions so as to perform the wire tying operation. In this winder, after the winding operation is completed, the bobbin is progressively moved onto other operating units so that each process in the coil manufacturing operation is performed smoothly.
However, the direction in which the bobbin is supported is fixed, and the bobbin could not be inclined. In general, this type of machine is capable of handling a plurality of bobbin types, but in different types of bobbin, the terminal pins of the bobbin do not necessarily project in the same direction. If therefore the bobbin was supported in a fixed direction, there was a risk that this difference in the projection direction of the pins would interfere with operations after winding such as tying the wire to the pin or soldering on the wire-tied pin.
Moreover, in this winder, the wire was tied to the terminal pins by moving the bobbin with respect to the fixed nozzle, the wire being gripped by chucks installed on both the bobbin and the nozzle. These chucks were provided with independent drive mechanisms.
However, provision of chucks on both the bobbin and the nozzle made the structure of the device unavoidably complex.
In particular, as the chuck on the bobbin always moves together with the bobbin, the chuck has to be withdrawn frown the operating area during operations other than wire tying such as coil winding or winding a tape on the coil. This required a complex drive mechanism so that the chuck on the bobbin could be moved into the correct position for wire tying, or withdrawn.